Seasons greetings to friends and family,
Wow! What a busy year for the boys and I. Even though 2008 had many ups and downs, I am so appreciative and blessed for all that God has done for our family. It was a fun and memorable year for the boys and I. We’ve been blessed in so many different ways. I am thankful for the time I do get to spend with them and I’m amazed how much they’ve have grown up.
Jake is a pretty active boy. He turned 12 this year (I’m a year from having a teenager!). He played baseball earlier this year and is now active in band playing drums. He puts a lot of time and effort into it. He also enjoys racquetball and skateboarding. He is doing very well in school.
Ty is also pretty active. He has taken up skateboarding like his brother and enjoys his videogames like every other boy. He turned 8 this year and is doing very in school.
I continue to work at Banner Good Samaritan on the night shift. It gives me lots of flexibility to be with the kids. I continue to be active at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. I just completed my first full term on the church mission board. I feel very blessed to be a part of that. I also took a missions based course called Pathways and a class at Chandler-Gilbert community college. On Wednesday nights, I am leading a small group of about 10 boys in our 5th/6th grade program at our church.
Because this year was filled many eventful memories for me, I thought I’d re-cap the whole year by month:
In January I traveled with a couple friends to Los Angeles to partake in the Passion conference. This is an event for young adults that challenges them to take their life to a whole new level. I enjoyed the music and the speakers and it was definitely life-changing for me.
In February, the boys and I had fun at the NFL experience. This event coincided with the Super Bowl being in town. I also had a small role as a pirate in some skits for a series on finances at our church. The series was called Pirates and we built a giant boat on stage to act out our roles.
The boys and I headed out to California in March for some beach fun and a visit to Disneyland for spring break. It had been some time since we had been there. The boys enjoyed riding all the rollercoasters and overcame their fear of riding the Tower of Terror.
In April, I co-led my first mission trip into Tijuana, Mexico. About 17 of us went down there to build houses with an organization called Mexico Caravan missions. It was an amazing time.
May was a little more laid back. The boys and I enjoyed some relaxation time hiking and camping.
In June, I had the opportunity to be a camp counselor at Forest Home camp in California. What great time we had bonding and hanging out. God really laid that age group on my heart which led me into working with 5th/6th graders.
The boys and I headed to San Diego in July for some more fun in the sun. In addition to the beach, we went to the Zoo, a Padres game, the air museum and geeked out at the world famous Comic-con convention. It was a great way to spend the last week of the boy’s summer break.
The boys were back into the full swing of school in August/September. We enjoyed our weekends attending some ASU football games (bummer year for them..). I also had the opportunity to take a cooking class with my girlfriend Ashleigh. We really enjoyed doing that.
I had an amazing opportunity to go to Cambodia with a couple of leaders in the church in October. We visited a missionary and his family that we support there. The trip allowed us to strategically plan how our church can further support what God is doing in Cambodia. It was an amazing trip and we had some time to visit Seoul, Korea on our way back. I had a little downtime when I got back home and took a short trip to Jerome/Sedona to relax. Then I was back on a plane to Belize. I was super excited to return there. We had a great team and it turned out to be a memorable trip.
In November, I had the chance to lead another team into Tijuana. We built two houses while down there. This month I plan on staying home with the boys. The only thing on our agenda is a snowboarding trip planned after Christmas.
God has been so good to us this year. I feel blessed for all the opportunities that have come my way. The boys and I appreciate so much the prayers and support we get from everyone. You are all a blessing!
God Bless and Merry Christmas,
Travis, Jacob & Tynan
Living a life that Matters 
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